Death of a Salesman Analysis | American Dream

Death of a Salesman Analysis | American Dream The American dream is a term that was first coined by James Adams in his book The Epic of America written in 1931. The American dream is a dream of a land where life is better and richer for everyone else. Where there is opportunity for each according to here ability and achievements. It its a dream of a social order where man and woman shall be able to the maximum stature that they are inherently capable of, to which they will be identified by others for what they are irrespective of the accidental circumstances brought about by birth or social position. The dream is a national ethos of America where the ideals of democracy are used as a premise for prosperity and the idea of the dream is rooted in the second sentence of the declaration of independence which states all men are created equal and they are endowed by the creator with certain alienable rights including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This are deemed to be the foundation of the American dream. The dream today has become the pursuit of material prosperity that has seen many people working two jobs to achieve this dream. But have less time to enjoy their prosperity. In America today the dream is represented by the a ability to buy motor cars and a home(s)- seen as status symbol that separates the middle class from the poor to which the dream is far from their grasp. Traditionally Americans have sought to achieve the dream through hard work and saving. But in the 19th and 20th centuries of industrialization has seen the philosophy being eroded by the schemes of get rich quick through a variety of seductive and elusive strategies. The major avenues to achieving the American ream today include large prized television shows, big jack pot lotteries and compensation lawsuit. Yet to some Americans they see the dream as living a simple fulfilling life that has less focus on financial gain and materialism. (b) Death of a Salesman This is a 1949 play that was written in Arthur miller. It records the life of Willy Loman the main character who is a traveling sales man and has worked at his dead end job for thirty years without success. It characterizes tragedy as the down fall of a great man- miller Loman (low man). The play won the Tony award and the Pulitzer Prize for drama the play has been seen as an attack on the American dream and it seems to criticize the notion that greatness comes from fame or personal charm. It also signifies the importance of one knowing himself as a prerequisite to success. This essay will analyze the meaning of the American dream; for each of the main characters in The Death of a Salesman. AMERICAN DREAM IN THE DEATH OF A SALESMAN. Willy Loman, Biff Loman and Happy Loman He is 60 years old and he has not achieved nor fulfilled the dreams that he had for himself or his family. They live in a small apartment in New York and his wife has seen his work go unrewarded over the years. The sales firm that he is working for does not pay him salaries any longer but pays him commission. Working on these straight commissions has rendered him not able to bring home enough money to pay the bills. For thirty for years in the firm they have used him and discarded him. This has lead to Mr. Willy taking his frustration on his family. This has seen Lucia experiencing the torment that her husband is going through. She has to silently deal with her husbands outburst and she shares with her husbands longings for success but she can not bring herself to tell him that those dreams are not possible to achieve at his age. Instead, she continuous to fan his delusions of success and greatness. The story of will loman shows what happens when the American dream fails to materiali ze and subsequently dies. The denial by Willy loman leads to suffering of himself and his family internally and externally. Willy Loman saga indicates what happens to an individual when the American dream dies. The denial on the part of the dreamer usually leads to internal and external suffering. Willy thinks about the missed opportunities that he has had in his life. Like his brother he could have gone to Africa or Alaska and come back home with riches at one time he had been offered a chance to be a partner in his brothers firm but he refused and chose the life that he has. This signifies the modern way that the American looks at the dream through savings and hard work to which Willy thought he could be successful in it. Although he ha s a vehicle and a house, Willy shifts the blame on his failure to succeed on others and himself and denies his role as to why he hasnt achieved his dream. His lack of fulfillment is as a result of his two sons Happy and Biff who are in there mid 30 s but neither seems to have put there life in order. The death of the American dream in him is seen by the way the sons are living. Happy a perennial ignored child has immersed himself in the company of women. He has a steady job but keeps promising his parents that he is going to settle down and get married bit the contrary is true. He is not going far in business and his goal seems to be that of sleeping with as many women as possible. On the other hand, Biff was a star football player in high school and won scholarships to two major universities. He failed in maths in his senior year and was not allowed to graduate. An attempt to correct the fail in summer was curtailed by his fathers in fidelity that changed his fathers view and the view of the world. He became disillusioned and traverses the country jumping from one job to the other toiling on the farms and trenches and was even jailed once for stealing a suit. He is more likeable than Happy (to mean the literal happy) but when ever he returns home for a visit, he and his father end up in a quarrel. The father wants him to make it big but bill seems incapable of taking up a white collar job. He engages in a monologue where he tells himself that he has always made a point of not wasting his life but every time he comes back home he inertly knows that he has wasted himself. (pg 23). He sees himself as failure headed the same road as his father. To him the American dream is to live a simple, quiet and fulfilling life that has less focus on financial gain and materialism not the working in a 9-5 office job that emphasizes money, car and a house. His coming home has resulted into problems being experienced. At the end of the play we see Biff finally seeing the truth and the realization that he is not a dime a dozen nor a great leader of men something that infuriates the father. His fathers death confirms to him the illusions that his father was living in, but he is no longer struggling to understand what he wan ts in life. Both brothers are in there mid thirties. The life of Willy Loman is full of past regrets and undying hopes. As he is growing older, he has trouble distinguishing between the reality and illusion. He is often lost in flashback where the story is mostly told. A clear sign that he is suffering from the Alzheimer syndrome, to which his family was late in detecting. The flash back is generally during the summer after Biffs senior year in school when all of the family problems started. He has had affairs with women where he is caught with Bill during one of his sales trips. Because he is mental sick and physically wasted, he is continuously trying to kill himself but in public he portrays himself as a prominent sales man and brags about the cities that he has visited. On page 62 we see him shouting Call out the name Willy Loman and see what happens! Big shot! yet he denies the fact that all those years he has not progressed and that everyone looks at him as a joke. When his fa mily piece up the attempted suicide they realize that its part of the failure on him to realizing his dreams-the American dream. Willy Loman is a common man (low man), and he is used by the author to show that tragedy can also befell the common person. The author has used the book to criticize the corporate world of America that is notorious for using people and discarding them when they have become useless. Willy Loman successful neighbor has continuously offered him a job which he has continuously refused and despite the fact that he has several options to choose from which can give him a new lease of life he decides to choose suicide. Willy can not let go off his old scoured dreams. At the end of the play we see is loyal wife sitting by his grave yard/side where she ca not comprehend why he took his life. Buit Willy took his life so that he can provide his family with money from the insurance corporation ($20000) which they can use to start a new life. This represents one of the ways that the American society uses to get rich quick and hence achieve the American dream- through massive pay out of the insurance compensation lawsuits. Linda and Charlie. Linda is Willys wife while Charlie is Willys neighbor who has a successful sales firm. The two are the voice of reason in the play as Linda is the arbiter of peace in the family as she is the mediator between the sons and the father. The conflict between them is their failure according to their father to find a good job, settle down (own a house and a car), and have a family. she is the protector of Willy whom she understands as tired and at the end of his rope-life which is ringing up a zero to her she views freedom as an escape from debt and the total ownership of the material and wealth that symbolizes success and stability what in today in America is used to judge ones attainment of the Americans dream. Willys obsession on the American dream has weighed heavily on her living her internally conflicted, she has managed to keep her emotional stability intact. She foresees the tragic end of her husband with clarity. Charlie has on several occasions tried to set Willy on the path to s uccess. His successful firm indicates that he has achieved the American dream. His assessment of Willys situation is logical and rational. He recognizes Willys financial failures and offers him a job although he doesnt like him much. Bernard and Uncle Ben. Bernard is Charlies good son who was a child hood friend of Biff. He was hardworking always studied and eventually became a successful lawyer. This is another clear example of the American dream being attained through hard work and maximization of an opportunity basing on ones capability those results to a better life. Will finds this success difficult to deal with. We see Bernard arguing a case at the end of the play. Uncle Ben is Willys dead brother who went to Africa and made it big in the diamonds mines of Africa. He was rich and successful that showed him to have attained the American dream. CONCLUSION The death of a sales man is an attack on the idea of the American dream, showing that it is not always successful i.e. it has a darker side. It also shows that common people also suffer from downfalls which are just as steep as those of people with high status. When people live in denial and do not realize there role in the failure of their dreams to materialize, it in most cases becomes detrimental to themselves. Death of the sales man is an antithesis of the happy endings to the fulfillment of the American dream.

Create A Classic Detective Story Essay

In this assignment I will analyse the classic Sherlock Holmes detective story the â€Å"Speckled Band† and find out how sir Conan Doyle takes a basic idea from all detective stories, a murder and still create a classic story.  First off a detective story needs a murder and in this case it was the death of Sarah stoner that starts the story off, but no death in any detective story would be complete without a mysterious death and the way Sarah died was a mystery. And I think that most detective stories use mysterious deaths because this makes the story more interesting and more intriguing because if the death was straight forward then the reader might be able to predict the ending of the story before actually reading the end of the story. This story also has its fair shares of mysterious characters for instance Helen Stoner, who is Sarah stoners sister is as mysterious as they get, like when she first met Sherlock she was wearing black clothes like she just came from a funeral. But why use mysterious characters? Because it is these characters that keep the reader guessing as to who the suspects may be and sometimes the writer can use this as an advantage to create a huge twist in the end of the story. The story describes the atmosphere as well such in the case of Sarah’s death the atmosphere was described as dark, mysterious sounds etc and this is very important to use descriptions of certain atmospheres and locations because they will help the reader create a sort of picture of the scene in their heads therefore making them want to read more because it helps them get more involved with the story – and also makes them think about what’s going to happen next. The location of the story is also important and in this story most of the tension is created in the mansion of Helen stoner, which is owned by Dr Roylott. And in this mansion are a number of false clues such as in the room of Sarah stoner there’s an emergency bell that don’t work, her bed bolted to the ground, no windows and a ventilator that goes straight in to Dr Roylotts room. But the biggest false clue to me was the title itself the â€Å"Speckled Band† and it was pure genius for Conan Doyle to use a title like this because some people read the story purely out of curiosity to find out what the speckled band was. So by using mysterious deaths, mysterious characters, atmospheres, locations & false clues the writer is able to draw the reader in the story, use tension to create questions in the mind of the reader but it also helps the writer stay 5 steps ahead to create a classic detective story.

Philosophy: Dialogue with Socrates Essay

â€Å"Socrates, good day!† exclaimed Person. Socrates is still mesmerized in this realm unbeknownst to him. Dazed and confused, he sees a figure, a person looking right at him. He replied, â€Å"Good day to you to. May I ask you questions about this world? I suppose you are a citizen of this state.† â€Å"I would gladly entertain your queries, but I have questions too, questions that only you can answer,† retorted Person. â€Å"I will bring the truth upon your inquiries, if you allow me the pleasure of asking you one question. I need help in bringing out the truth so that the decision I make would be based on reason.† â€Å"The pleasure is mine,† said Socrates, â€Å"I will help you bring the light of truth into your question, what is it that you ask?† Person then hesitated, but replied eventually, â€Å"Should I submit my school requirement? The teacher asked to write something philosophical, something uhm†¦ something about a dialogue.† â€Å"Then it is an obligation, I suppose, and every obligation must be fulfilled. This is a moral act, pious according to the laws of my state, Athens. One must never disrespect the state, it is immoral.† â€Å"I do not want to submit my paper, it gets in the way of my hobbies and friends, yet at the same time, I do not want to fail my obligations to my school, â€Å" Person said. â€Å"This obligation, to whom is it addressed,† Socrates asked. â€Å"The obligation is for my teacher,† replied Person. â€Å"Why would you not obey your obligation? Did you enter this obligation as an agreement,† inquired Socrates. â€Å"Why, I, ah I entered the obligation as an agreement when I enrolled. I entered it willingly but the teacher gets in the way of my hobbies and friends,† said Person. Socrates asked: â€Å"If the teacher is a hurdle to you, would you then disregard this authority? What is the basis of your rebellion against authority?† And Person replied: â€Å"I would disregard the authorities, but there are consequences, like a failing grade. If I fail, I would either repeat this course, or I would have a hard time applying for a job after I graduate if most of my grades show my disregard for requirements and obligations.† â€Å"Then, following this authority is a virtue?† â€Å"Yes!† exclaimed Person. â€Å"And entering an agreement or obligation willingly is acceptable?† â€Å"Yes,† said Person proudly. â€Å"If the authority gets in the way of your time with friends, does this mean that the authority is immoral?† â€Å"No.† whispered Person. At this point, Socrates is fuming mad. I know that he is a just man. Plato said so, when I conversed with him moments ago. And now I know that Socrates is not only just but also virtuous. He is attached to truth itself. Furiously, he said: â€Å"Then, I would say that you are not virtuous because you dare defy authority that is virtuous! You are also immoral, for defying your obligations that you entered willingly! Why then did you enter this agreement if you are not agreeing with it?† â€Å"Because studying is required to be smart and successful, I want to be successful†¦ and being smart means that you gain wisdom,† Person shyly said. The face of Socrates brightened a bit: â€Å"You are wise in saying that Person,† exclaimed Socrates, â€Å"because the beginning of wisdom is the recognition of your ignorance. However, knowing that you are ignorant but not following the virtuous path towards truth and wisdom only means that you are foolish. Do as you please, do not fulfill the obligations of your agreement, and you will lose your identity as a Person. What difference do you have then from beasts?† â€Å"I am not a beast. And I am not foolish. I will then, submit to my obligations, I will write my paper. So, Socrates, let us move on, what are your questions about this realm?† Person said eventually.

Unemployment in Canada 2014 Free Essay Example, 1500 words

What starts out as a cyclical unemployment may grow into a structural unemployment if the economic recession persists for a long time. The occurrence of structural changes causes higher rates of unemployment. Both the provincial and federal governments share jurisdiction over the labour market policies in Canada. The rates of unemployment in Canada represent the loss of production to the Canadian economy (International Labour Organization, 2014). It results into increased demand for government services, substantial financial hardship and diminished physical and mental health of the unemployed citizens. Theory of unemployment in Canada Neo-classical theorists argue that local difference cannot persist in integrated economies such as Canada. The local inequality generates relative wage changes that trigger the labour market adjustments. The recent studies showed that specific determinants of the natural unemployment rate differ across localities. For instance, the western provinces experienced the reduction in structural unemployment in the mid 1990s while east and central provinces of Canada did not. These theorists also argue that the differences in labour market institutions play a role in determining the natural rate of unemployment. These disparities become conspicuous during economic down turns. We will write a custom essay sample on Unemployment in Canada 2014 or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The provincial rates of unemployment differ at any given time. In addition, different industrial structure and performance create varying adjustment speeds within each provincial labour market (Karpenko, 2008). This further influences the rates of unemployment. Model of unemployment in Canada The total rate of unemployment is equal to the natural and cyclical rates. The unemployment rate falls when there is growth of the economy. However, when unemployment rises, the economy is in a recession. The increase in the price of oils increases unemployment in the areas where oil is manufactured and produced. Besides increased energy prices, the persistence of oil prices alters the production processes leading to structural unemployment. In Canada, the impact of interest rate depends on whether capital is predominantly used as a substitute or complement to labour. When the interest rate rises, the demand for labour increases and the producers switch away from capital. This reduces unemployment. THE STUDY ANALYSIS The study analysis for the rates of unemployment in Canada The youth unemployment rate has historically been higher than that for adults. Recent years, marked by the 2008-2009 recessions and the subsequent recovery, have been no exception.